Best of the Best Elite 8: 1998 Ed White vs 1997 Raines

It’s elite 8 time in the Best of the Best Tournament and we’ve had some upsets! You can’t simply advance a team for their championships when their playing against some of the best teams ever assembled! Although the matchups are getting really tough, and round three is even tougher. Check out some of the teams that advance to the elite 8! We’ll be announcing the final four Friday afternoon at 6pm on our DuvalSports Kickoff Show streamed live on our website, youtube, and facebook at the Grave Yard! The championship participants and winner will be named Tuesday night 8pm from Gator’s Dockside Baymeadows during our first weekly DuvalSports Show! Come on out and discuss the entire Best of the Best tournament with us!

Now lets get to the action. The debate has been in high gear across all the social media platforms. The fans of football on the first coast feel very passionate about their teams and their football, but alas there can only be one winner.

 

1997 Raines vs 1998 Ed White

After a shootout with the 1993 Ribault Trojans, the 1998 Ed White Commanders find themselves in a rematch of sorts with their arch nemesis from their era. A team they had circled on their schedule the moment they lost to Osceola in the elite 8 the year prior in 1997. The 1997 Raines Vikings. Ironically enough, this game has already been played. I dubbed it “The Game of the Century” in 1998, as the defending champion Vikings visited Ed White in prime time on the Sunshine network. I can remember our coach letting us out of practice early so we could go home and watch this Friday Night game. The entire state of Florida was glued to their televisions to see two teams on a collision course. In 1998 Ed White ran through their regular season literally. They led the area in rushing yards, attempts and offense. They had one of the best defenses in the state. And they were minutes away from beating this team before. Or were they…???

See if this were the 1998 Raines Vikings, a team that suffered a bitter loss to Rasheen Mathis and the Englewood Rams earlier in the season, the same outcome would probably occur (A Raines Victory). Because the Vikings would have tasted the sting of defeat earlier in the season and it would’ve been fresh on their minds.No way they lose two games in the regular season. But this is the 1997 Vikings, a team whose only hiccup was a 14-7 win over Sandalwood. A team that never tasted defeat at the hands of an opponent in 1997. A team that just outgunned the eventual Mr. Football De’Andre Johnson and the 2011 First Coast Buccaneers in our bracket. So what would happen if we put that 98′ Ed White Team on the 1997 Raines Schedule??

Roshard Gilayard vs Mack Frazier

Travis Felder vs Lito Sheppard

Reshaud Preston vs Curtis Lee

Bam Hardmon and the Ed White Defense vs Jabar Gaffney & Maurice Harris

This time can Ed White rewrite history by making one more tackle in t he fourth quarter???

Who wins the Rematch of the game of the century? 

 

 

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About the author

Andre' Ellis, Founder/ Lead Writer DuvalSports.com Florida Times Union All-City 1998,LB, Sandalwood Florida A&M Unv, BA , MBA